The Ministry of State Security recently arrested two employees of Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport for taking bribes during searches of the bags of North Koreans returning from overseas, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Wednesday that “the Ministry of State Security had predicted that airport employees would engage in misconduct as laborers from overseas returned aboard Air Koryo flights, and were secretly watching airport staff when they caught two employees taking dollars as they were checking bags.”
According to the source, the ministry had dispatched a special team to the airport in August under the belief that the restart of Air Koryo flights could cause social trouble because of the likelihood that people would sneak in items banned by the state.
As several groups of North Koreans returned from overseas aboard Air Koryo in late August, the team patrolled the airport in plain clothes, watching from afar whether the airport staff was faithfully carrying out their duties, including baggage checks.
In the course of their monitoring activities, team members discovered two airport staff secretly taking dollars from several returnees who were standing in front of the baggage inspection desk with a few large pieces of luggage.
The two airport employees were making money on the sly by letting through baggage without a search if returneees bribed them 10 dollars for each large piece of luggage, sticking the bills in their passports.
The Ministry of State Security team immediately halted baggage inspections and brought the two employees to the airport security office. During the interrogation process, the team learned that the pair had already made a lot of US dollars this way.
“The two airport employees were handed over to a party committee, where they were subject to a struggle session and banned from participating in baggage inspection duties,” the source said.
Authorities confiscate Chinese liquor, USBs with S. Korean movies
Afterwards, the Ministry of State Security team became directly involved in the baggage inspections, exposing many returnees for carrying back “anti-socialist” or “non-socialist” items. The team confiscated the items and even accused some of the returnees of political misconduct, the source said.
The most common seized item by the team was Chinese liquor over the permitted amount, though USBs with South Korean or Chinese movies and Chinese currency were also confiscated.
The team also inspected all photos the returnees had snapped overseas, taking issue with photos showing people dressed like South Koreans or photos taken together with foreigners.
“The Ministry of State Security team was sarcastic and rude as they inspected the bags of the returnees, saying things like how the arrivals had all become Chinese or South Koreans after spending three years overseas and that they’d come back to earth after getting a taste of the Fatherland,” the source said. “Based on their facial expressions, none of the returnees seemed pleased to have returned to their homeland.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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